Before you can shift your attention to the many ins-and-outs of individual reference formatting (and trust us, there are so very many ins-and-outs), there’s one vital part of your research paper you’ll need to set up first: your reference page.

A properly formatted reference page will help your readers find your sources at a glance. At the same time, it will make things a bit easier for whomever’s tasked with grading your paper, and anything you can do to make that job less tedious can’t hurt, right?

Reference page formatting requirements

• Add a new page
  Insert a page break at the end of the body text. The header continues with the page number in the top-right.
• Heading
  On the first line, type References, centered and bolded. Use the same font and size as the rest of the paper.
• Spacing
  Use double spacing throughout the list. Do not add extra blank lines between entries.
• Alphabetical order
  Sort entries alphabetically by the first author’s last name. For works without an author, sort by the first significant word of the title (ignore leading articles: A, An, The).
• Hanging indent
  Apply a 0.5″ hanging indent to each entry. The first line is flush left; lines after the first are indented by 0.5″. Set this in paragraph settings, not with the Tab key.
• Punctuation and italics
  There are different rules for how to set punctuation, italics, and formatting for each reference type in APA 7 format. Keep DOIs and URLs active when possible and avoid a period at the end of a DOI or URL.

What does a reference actually look like?

Now that you’ve got the structure down, let’s look at the three most common types of references you might include on your page. Each one follows the same general principles above, but the details vary depending on the source.

• Book
  Author, A. A. (Year). Title of the book. Publisher.
  Example:
  Taylor, O. M. (2020). Understanding sociology. Academic Press.
• Journal article with DOI
  Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Year). Title of article. Title of Journal, volume number(issue number), page range. DOI
  Example:
  Levins, B. L., & Gregory, S. (2021). Attention in digital environments. Journal of Digital Studies, 15(3), 106–115. https://doi.org/10.1234/56789
• Webpage
  Author, A. A. (Year, Month Day). Title of page. Website Name. URL
  Example:
  Gibbs, L. (2022, March 10). How diet affects learning. NutritionWire. https://www.nutritionwire.net/samplereference

As you can see, while the formats differ slightly, they all follow the same core ideas: consistent punctuation, clear ordering, and enough information for your reader to track down the original source.

Or …

If you’ve been following our APA 101 series, you know where we’re headed with this, so here it is: If you’re using PERRLA to format your research paper, you won’t have to worry with any of the above.

PERRLA will take care of all of it automatically, from the moment you add your first reference to your paper. New entries appear in the correct alphabetical order with proper double spacing and hanging indents. DOIs and URLs format correctly with a single click, and each reference type is built to match APA 7 guidelines.

Instead of double-checking commas, italics, and indentation rules, you can stay focused on your research and writing – where your time actually matters most.

It’s just that simple. You can try PERRLA completely free for 7 days (no credit card required).

We’ll see you next time, when we’ll cover a brief but solid game plan to help you determine what should ultimately appear on your reference page.

‍